Boston Marathon Course Map and Route

For the lay marathoner, qualifying for Boston is a crowning achievement. It’s also an opportunity to run a monster of a course that goes mostly downhill for the first 16 miles, deceptively shredding the quadriceps muscles, and then travels uphill for most of the next five. At the top of Heartbreak Hill in mile 20 of the race, the Citgo sign outside Fenway Park, roughly a mile from the finish, comes into view. It looks so close and so, so far.

For those running for the first time, or those who have run it before and are still trying to figure out how to master it, here is a course guide for the ultimate journey to the heart of the Hub.

The Bus Ride

Nearly everyone who runs Boston takes the bus from Boston Common out to Hopkinton.

It’s a special moment, especially for those who have gotten in with a qualifying time. These are your people, folks every bit as crazy as you are about splits and intervals and hill training. Chat up the strangers around you about where they qualified, their favorite marathons and what their race plans are. For once, you are not the weird running obsessive.

The friendly banter will take your mind off the obvious: This bus ride is kind of long. Like, nearly an hour, and you have to run all the way back. Try not to think about that.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/15/sports/boston-marathon-route-map.html